|
Every fisherman has his favorite big tale to tell. Linn Kastan, president of Red Line Engineering, has a yarn that may set
a new world record. Kastan, of Moorpark, California, was fishing on the Twin Dolphin Juanita 7 when he hooked and landed a
world record 919-pound Pacific Blue Marlin on 80-pound test line. After more than three hours of fishing without a bite, the
group had decided to
head in closer to shore and try for some roosterfish.
"Just as we headed back something hit one of the lines," Kastan said. "The fish was so big, it looked like
a whale to me'" It took veteran skipper Luis Aboroa, first mate Jose Cosioa and Kastan 55 minutes to get the marlin to
the side of the boat. "We couldn't relax a minute," recalled Kastan. "And when it came out of the water everyone
was sort of stunned and silent - then the crew went crazy'"
Word was sent ahead to the docks. When the Juanita 7 pulled ashore, there were hundreds of people waiting to see the fish.
Some were even taking bets on the weight.
When the weight reached 927 pounds, the brackets on the scale broke. "The fish and the scale crashed down on the
dock. Everyone was startled!" Under the supervision of official weighmaster Bdd" Parr and using a certified digital
scale from Western Scale in San Diego, the official weigh-in was recorded at 919 pounds.
According to the International Game Fish Association in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Kastan's catch was the largest blue marlin ever landed on the West Coast of North or South America
and the largest ever taken on 80 pound line.
The 919-pound weight breaks the 11 year world record of 916 pounds set at Kona, Hawaii. Verification of the new world
record is still pending - so it's highly likely we'll have another big fish story for you in the next issue of the Twin Dolphin
Newsletter.
"We at the Hotel Twin Dolphin have no doubt
that Kastan's fish was, and is, a world's record. It
proves once again that the waters off Baja's tip produce the world's greatest deep-sea fishing, certainly the most plentiful
and again some of the largest," said David J. Halliburton Jr. "Even though the Hotel Twin Dolphin advocates tag
and release sport fishing, we cannot ignore the tremendous skill and ability it took both angler and crew to land a once-in-a-life-time
trophy gamefish."
After the fish had been skinned and 770 pounds of meat given to local people, a taxidermist sent a truck to pick up the
fish to be mounted.
"It's going to take six to eight months to cure the skin and make the mold," Kastan explained, "and then
I face an even bigger battle than reeling the marlin in. I've got to talk my wife into letting me hang the 14-foot fish in
our den." Accounts of Kastan's catch appeared in the Los
Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Western Outdoor News, Thousand Oaks News, Moorpark News and Ventura County
Press. They told everyone what we already knew: Not only is the Twin Dolphin a luxury hotel, our fishing fleet is world class.
Article forwarded to me courtesy of Linn Kastan. Article from Hotel Twin Dolphins Newsletter February 1985.
|
